I have a feeling here in Queensland that very early tomorrow, on Christmas Day, kae will wish everyone here a Merry Christmas – dunno why, it’s just one of those things that occurred to me out of the blue …

Interesting editorial in the NY Times supporting the then state law referred to the Sullivan Act in 1911 restricting and permitting concealed carry.

The motivation for passing the law was no secret. During debates leading to the ultimate passage of the gun control law, The New York Times editorialized:

Such a measure would prove corrective and salutary in a city filled with immigrants and evil communications, floating from the shores of Italy and Austria-Hungary. New York police reports frequently testify to the fact that the Italian and other south Continental gentry here are acquainted with the pocket pistol, and while drunk or merrymaking will use it quite as handily as the stiletto, and with more deadly effect. It is hoped that this treacherous and distinctly outlandish mode of settling disputes may not spread to corrupt the native good manners of the community.

But plenty of New Yorkers have chosen to own guns outside the official system. In a city that, as I write, has roughly 37,000 licensed handgun owners and about 21,000 rifle and shotgun licenses, the running guesstimate of illegal firearms stands at two million, give or take a bit. That’s the number the U.S. Department of Justice has used in its official publications in recent years.

Onya kae – enjoy, enjoy, enjoy my dear. Today I noticed mad impatience on the roads around the northern (Broadwater) end of the Coast so do be careful on the drive down and back from almost-the-range.

Haven’t been there for a decade but Woodchoppers Inn at Mudgeeraba used do good Friday lunches, including the occassional gathering of colourful Sydney business identities who had quietly moved north over the years to avoid Plod, which was eventually joined by Plod when some of them retired and also moved north!

This is why we need semi- automatic weapons.
The pig will just not sit still ….. and he needs to be slaughtered, bled, shaved, stuffed and in the oven by 9:30.
Merry Christmas to all at Animals Australia.

Happy Christmas from me and da Hairy Ape, who is currently feeling no pain and very cheerful. Like many others, we are with old friends and family. We have been moving around this city of Sydney in a flat spin for the past three days, and continuing tonight and tomorrow and tomorrow night. I love Christmas. Went out walking this morning and in the streets everyone was so friendly, wishing each other Happy Christmas. Hope we never lose this crucial celebration and reminder of our common humanity to each other and that reach back into our religious life with all that it means for so many still.

Couldn’t let the day get by without saying Happy Christmas to all friends on the Cat, good company to keep at all hours and times. Our Christmas has been full of true joy with little and bigger children, the joy of the world. Hope yours has also been so blessed in some traditional way.

Many thanks to Sinclair for making the community on the Cat possible and to all contributors for generating such a vibrant meeting place.

Liberty Quotes

My criterion for welfare is BMI – body mass index. If people are truly poor, they will be skinny. Yet most so-called poor adults in this country are overweight or obese. Spare flab means spare dollars. If someone wants welfare on my taxes, I want them to be lean and hungry.— Sleetmute